The Deceitful One



At the dawn of the 4th Era, the entire Western Continent was in a constant state of warfare and turmoil. There were numerous kingdoms in the continent that were forever waging wars against their neighbors and vying for supremacy.

The period of unchanging warfare lasted for over a century and was known as the Age of Blood. Countless kingdoms fell and many more were founded. The mortality rate at the time for men was no more than thirty years old.

That was a time period when the moment someone was born, they would be trained to become warriors and fight for their respective kingdoms. Over the span of a century, billions of people died in battle.

This was a time of blood, death, and conflict. It was during such a time of bloodshed that the continent gave birth to a sovereign. The lands were in chaos for a long time and now longed for peace. And thus, in an unassuming part of the continent, a child with great destiny was born.

This child was born to a pair of peasants. His father was a farmer and his mother was a simple woman who tended to the cattle. Born in a small village, this boy lived a simple life. And if things hadn't gone the way they did, he would have become a farmer just like his father.

But as fate would have it, the bloodthirsty claws of war reached his village. The invaders burned his village to the ground, destroyed all the crops, and ruthlessly murdered all the villagers. The child's parents had managed to protect him at the price of their own lives.

The boy had to witness his parents die in front of his eyes, while the invaders had wide grins on their faces as they massacred the innocents. This was the biggest turning point in his life. For this would ignite a fire in his heart so fierce, that it would set the war-stricken lands ablaze.

After the death of his parents, the boy joined the army. Legends have it, he first killed with a sword at the age of eleven. As a mere foot soldier, every time he stepped onto the battlefield, he would charge forward alone and kill scores of men all by himself.

As a general, he would lead his army to victory. Wherever his banner flew, the allies would sigh a breath of relief and be rejuvenated with hope. By the time the boy grew up into a man, he had already killed thousands of men.

His sword was bathed in the blood of his enemies as he stood atop a mountain made of their corpses. In many accounts of the scholars of the past, it is mentioned that this man once killed hundreds of men all by himself. On the battlefield, he was undefeated.

Soon, he was given his own small territory to rule. His lands expanded at a speed never seen before. Not only was this man a great fighter on the battlefield, but he was also a great tactician and had a keen eye for politics.

One step at a time, his territory soon became the size of a kingdom. When he was crowned king, he set his eyes on the whole of the Western Continent.

During his coronation ceremony, the words spoken by him were said to have resounded throughout the entire continent. All the history books mention of this monumental moment that would show the world his great ambition.

"I will unify these lands!" The king had declared at the time. The very next day following his coronation ceremony, the kind had launched a massive campaign that would take the continent by storm.

One by one, the kingdoms neighboring his own were annexed. The kings either fell to his sword or pledged their undying fealty. It took him ten years to unify half of the Western Continent.

Something like this had never been seen before in the history of the continent. The rest of the kingdoms banded together and formed an alliance. An alliance to thwart the plans of this zealous king. However, they too fell to his sword.

Another twenty years later, all the kingdoms that had waged war against him had either perished or submitted. For the first time in the history of the Western Continent and even the world, a man had unified all the lands—within a continent—and brought them under his own banner.

After conquering everything there was to conquer, the king proclaimed himself Emperor. This was the birth of the Dicentra Empire! And the ruler of this legendary empire was known as:

The Paragon of Sovereigns;

Architect of Warfare;

Beacon of Wisdom and Prosperity;

King of Kings;

Emperor Solomon Dicentra!

...

When Bryan heard the man say his name, his eyes went wide. He couldn't control his jaws from dropping. At once, he recalled the history of the Western Continent, how the Dicentra Empire came to be, and every little thing that was known about the founding Emperor.

Not even for once did he have a shred of doubt. He didn't think that this person was playing a prank on him. After all, he knew very well just where he was right now. This was a secret society that was founded at the beginning of the 4th Era, that too, by a deity no less.

So it wasn't surprising to see someone of such stature attending the gathering. Instead, what he was really surprised about was that the founding emperor was still alive and kicking!

That would mean, the emperor was around fifteen hundred years old! In all the history textbooks, it was said that the founding emperor had died of old age and was buried in Strinver City from where he looked over the empire from beyond the grave.

After his death, his descendants succeeded him and brought the empire to what it is now. Since the inception of the Dicentra Empire, it could be said that the whole continent had prospered and advanced. Everyone naturally attributed this to the descendants of the Dicentra bloodline.

But to think that it might have just been the founding emperor all along, sent waves of shock in Bryan's heart. His death was just a hoax to fool the public. In reality, he had always been alive and pushing the wheel of prosperity forward, in the shadows.

Bryan couldn't help but gulp involuntarily and thought to himself, 'Just what rank is he… for him to still appear so young after fifteen hundred ears?'

Suddenly, he heard an amused chuckle from beside him and he snapped out of his daze. The person who had just chuckled was a beautiful blonde woman with green eyes, she was wearing a luxurious purple dress.

She looked at Bryan and faintly smiled. "Looks like Solomon's identity shocked you more than the being out there in the void." This elicited a collective laugh from some around the table.

Bryan felt a little awkward and realized that he might have been dumbstruck for a lot longer than he thought. He looked at Solomon, his eyes shining brightly. "M-My name is Anthony. Nice to meet you, Emperor!"

How could he not be excited? He had grown up looking up to Emperor Dicentra. After all, the emperor, just like himself, came from humble beginnings. He was like a role model for the young Bryan. Hence, now that he met him in person, he was over the moon.

Solomon raised his eyebrow and looked at him in amusement. "Oh? Anthony, is it? I thought it was Bryan Lombardi."

Bryan was greatly taken aback. He reached for his face and realized that he didn't have the classic trademark mustache and goatee of Anthony Wayne. It suddenly dawned on him that he had appeared here with his real face.

'Fuck!' He cursed inwardly as he realized that this was his spiritual body. His mask, Deceit, was fused with his physical body. Therefore, currently, he was wearing his original face.

Seeing Bryan's reactions, Solomon couldn't help but chuckle. "No need to panic, kiddo. All of us here already know of your true identity."

Bryan didn't say anything and instead looked around at all the figures sitting at the table. Only now did he realize that every one of the men and women present here had intimidating auras that weren't inferior to Emperor Solomon's.

The next moment, a holy and authoritative voice boomed throughout the surroundings. "Let the gathering begin."

Bryan turned his head in the direction of the voice and found Lady Fate sitting on a throne high up at the source of the river and the place where everyone was currently gathered was further downstream on the surface of the river that seemed to be made up of silver strings.

The following moment, everyone at the table got up from their seats. They turned toward Lady Fate and bowed respectfully. "Yes, Lady Fate."

Bryan clumsily got up and copied what everyone was doing. After everyone sat back down, the gathering finally began. However, Bryan's attention wasn't on what was happening. Instead, he confirmed his speculations about Lady Fate in his heart.

'If everyone present at the table is acting so respectfully toward her, then she must definitely be a deity, or close to one!' Bryan thought in awe.

He then looked around him. On one side was Emperor Solomon and on the other was the woman who had spoken to him earlier. Seeing as she was discussing something with another person, Bryan leaned toward Solomon and asked, "Emperor, who is this woman?"

Solomon smiled and replied, "One of the founding members of the Dicentra Research Institute, Duchess of Discernment, Victoria Beaumont."

He then added, "Also, stop calling me Emperor. At this table, we're all equal. You may simply call me Solomon."

However, Bryan didn't pay any heed to Solomon's last words. He was currently looking at the blonde woman beside him with utter disbelief. He couldn't help but gulp involuntarily as he thought, 'Another big shot…. This place truly is a gathering of legends!'